Stoats leaving countryside for the bright city lights

The once elusive stoat is more urbanised than previously believed and has been sighted on city and town streets, in university grounds and industrial estates, a research project at NUI Galway has found.

Zoology lecturer Dr Colin Lawton said there had been a "phenomenal response" from the public to the project's plea for sightings of the animal. He said the large number of sightings in urban areas was one of the most surprising aspects.

The stoat hotline is being operated by Laura O’Flynn who has received stoat sightings in places such as Glasnevin and the Grand Canal in Dublin city, on the main motorway approaching Killarney, in Ballybrit Industrial Estate and heavily built-up residential areas such as Knocknacarra in Galway, as well as in the grounds of NUI Galway.

One woman living on Clonmel’s busy Queen Street sent the project a video of a stoat in her back yard. But the majority of sightings are still in rural areas, in places such as Inis Mór, Ventry and west Cork.

Prey

Ms O’Flynn said the introduction of myxomatosis in the 1950s to reduce the rabbit population had wiped out a large part of the prey of foxes and stoats. “The fox adapted by moving into the urban areas and finding alternative resources but we didn’t know how the stoat was coping. Now we are hearing about all these sightings in urban areas.”

She said the Irish stoat was unique to this country and was quite distinct to the stoats found in Britain and other countries. It has been present on the island since before the last Ice Age. She said some people confused them with weasels, but there were no weasels in this country.

Stoats are about a foot long with orange-brown fur and are known for their quick, bounding movements. “We have no idea how the stoat is doing, which is crazy because it’s a protected species,” Ms O’Flynn said. “We don’t even have a population estimate, but we will find out.”

Dr Lawton said he had been pleasantly surprised by the positive response to the mammal. “Not a single person has been in contact to complain about stoats,” he said. Farmers, in particular spoke fondly of the creature. “They say that it never bothers them, that they keep the rats under control.”

The research project is being undertaken by the animal, ecology and conservation group at NUIG with the

Vincent Wildlife Trust.

. See Facebook.com/irishstoat for photographs and video footage.